Can you help me by explaining Psalm 18:8?

Psalm 18 a very precious Psalm that reveals David’s praise to God for delivering him from “the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul” (see the title of the Psalm). You can read of this same deliverance in 2nd Samuel 22. Here is a brief outline of this Psalm:

Verses 1-6: David prays to be delivered from death by the hands of his enemies.

Verses 7-18: God delivers David by His magnificent power.

Verses 19-27: God rewards David for his faithfulness and obedience.

Verses 28-42: God subdues David’s enemies.

Verses 43-50: David praises God for His deliverance and for making him the King.

As you can see, the verse in question has to do with God’s deliverance of David’s enemies. The Psalmist was inspired to speak of this deliverance in very graphic terms depicting a storm. We see this especially in verses 7-8: “Then the EARTH SHOOK and trembled; the foundations of the hills also QUAKED and were shaken, because He was angry. SMOKE went up from His nostrils, and devouring FIRE from His mouth; COALS were kindled by it” (NKJV). In this passage God’s anger is seen as an EARTHQUAKE and a VOLCANO. We read later in verses 12-14: “From the brightness before Him, His thick CLOUDS passed with HAILSTONES and coals of fire. The LORD THUNDERED from heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice, HAILSTONES and coals of fire. He sent out His arrows and scattered the foe, LIGHTNINGS in abundance, and He vanquished them.” Here the Lord’s power to deliver is manifested as in a thunderstorm with hail and lightning.

We would be missing out if we didn’t see that this Psalm also speaks “prophetically” of the Lord Jesus, for He too cried out for deliverance from His enemies and was delivered by God’s power. We would suggest the following outline to go along with this view:

Verses 1-6: The Lord Jesus prays for deliverance “out of death.” The Lord may have prayed this prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane shortly before He went to the cross. We believe this corresponds to Hebrews 5:7 which reads, “Who, in the days of His flesh, having offered up both supplications and entreaties to Him who was able to save him out of death” (DARBY).

Verses 7-18: God answered those prayers by “raising His Son from the dead” and by this act He delivered Him from His enemies by giving Him the victory over death and Satan

Verses 19-27: God rewarded His Son for His “obedience unto death” by exalting Him to His right Hand. “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name” (Philippians 2:9…NKJV).

Verses 28-42: God has promised His Son that He will “make His enemies the footstool of His feet” (Psalm 110:1). This will be accomplished at Christ’s Second Coming, when He returns as “King of kings, and Lord of lords.”

Verses 43-50: When Christ’s enemies are destroyed, He will establish His earthly kingdom and He will then be “the head of the nations.” (254.7) (DO)